The 10 Hottest Software Titles and Their Free Counterparts

Amazon.com usually lists the top 25 sellers in certain categories and in the software list the company’s best sellers are sometimes quite expensive and usually the most “necessary” software for any average computer user.

This list was generated over the summer 2009 (I will first list the software listed on Amazon then list its free counterpart):

1. Microsoft Office for Windows and Mac. The free counterpart for Office is OpenOffice. It is an open source software that is powerful and does all the same things as Office. It even reads those dreaded .docx files.

2. QuickBooks Pro. The free counterpart of this program could be QuickBooks Simple Start Free Edition 2009. You may not need a full version of QuickBooks right from the start, so why not save yourself some money until you can decide whether or not you need it?

3. Adobe Photoshop Elements 7. Adobe is one of the most expensive programs that I have ever considered buying. Photoshop is one of the most fun programs to play with and you can really do a number on pictures with a program like this. However, you don’t have to break the bank to play with your pictures. You can get the GNU Image Manipulation Program from Gimp.Org.

4. Norton 360 and Norton Internet Security 2009. Zone Alarm Free is one of the best (and most used) free-of-charge programs out there for people who are worried about all the little bugs floating around the internet just waiting to find their way onto our unsuspecting computers. The program keeps viruses as well as other malware from communicating using your computer.

5. Norton Antivirus 2009. AVG has a free version of its anti virus program. Most anti virus programs do the same basic thing; they protect your computer from malware that is meant to infect your computer. This one is just free.

6. iLife ‘09. Google’s Picasa program is a lot of fun. While I haven’t actually had any experience with iLife, I have Picasa and use it on a daily basis. I really enjoy the way it stores my pictures and it makes it quite simple to crop and do other simple tasks with it. There are plenty of features that it has as well that I have no idea how to use though.

7. Adobe Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements 7 as well as iMovie and other Video editing software. ZS4 is supposed to be a powerful video editing program. I haven’t used it, but its another option for people who are perhaps amateurs and want to edit their videos.

Read more about these programs at the source link at the bottom of the page!

I really try to find the cheapest way to get things done on my computer. My favorite anti virus program is free also.

Something I’ve found out is that if you have someone tell you that you NEED a certain program, you don’t always need that program, but just something that is similar or runs the files.

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